Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-02
DAILY HERALD.
TALK ABOUT PARROTS.
Tho best Varieties and How to
Take Care Of Them.

In6 peALIOI poPuuoVio. "a >A'y ~
estimated at 10000. The iolivs. as
they are called, without distinction OF
sex, are interesting subjects OF study.
There are good parrots and bad par
ruts. lust az there are good children
and had children. The bad parrot is
one which has not forgotten the
harsh. discordant screams OF parrot
language in the tropical forests and
indulces in these throughout the live
long day. He is also the possessor of
a limited vocabulary of the Polly
wants a cracker" style, whose endless
reiteration is even more aggravatingly
annoying than his natural screenings
and chatterings. A bird like this can
make the seeker after an extra nap in
the early morning believe that 10000
parrots is too small an estimate OF the
citv's parrot population.
The screeching nuisance can be dis
couraged and ultimately reformed by
judiciously administering punish
ments. The vocabulary can be ex-
tended and made interesting by care
full training, and some melodious and
tnneful whistling may be taught by a
pleasant adjunct to the spoken word.
Then the bad parrot having become
good, hard feelings will disappear
1rom the neighborhood. The reason
there are so few good parrots is found
in the great mortality among these
birds. While in the process of refor-
nation and education they die in such
great numbers that steady stream OF
recruits is necessarily kept coming
into the country. The result IS to
keep down the proportion of good par
rpts, birds that can talk considerably
swear intelligently, sing something
and whistle tunes.
A reporter had his attention attract
ed by fine parrot in front of Jefferson
market the other day. Stopping to
look at it his thoughts reverted to the
APPALLING death rate among parrots,
and he was pitying the poor fellow
when the latter suddenly pc ked his
head sideways with the question,
sWhat's the matter with you, hey 2"
followed by a burst of uproarous
laughter. The owner of the parrot,
John Morris, the florist, was for years
bird fancier, though he does not now
keep birds for sale. Mr.. Morris talked
entertainingly.
"Sam is a very smart Bird" said
he. 81 call him Sam for short. His
full name is Samuel j. Randall. When
you are disposed to pity Sam on ac-
count of any impression on your part
that he is in any danger Of losing his
excellent health, you are away off. l
have three other parrots in just as
good shape. 1t is the effect of their
care and diet. They get no bread, no
coffee, no fruit, no vegetables, no hemp
seed, and especially no meat. They
do get plenty of good, plain canary
seel, water, and liberal supply of
sand and gravel. Two-thirds OF the
mortality among parrots comes from
Overfeeding. Some years ago came
TO this conclusion. The birds that
come to me, sick and feverish, with
ragged, dull and dirty plumage, were
80 evidently suffering from dyspepsia
that overfeeding was the first thought
rs to the cause. In their confined
state, having little or no exercise, they
suffer if they are stuffed with rich,
heavy food.
1t occurred to me that canary seed
contained all the necessary elements
of nourishment in a simple, easily
digestible form. l determined to
make the experiment. A sick parrot
that was brought in to ME was chosen
as q promising subject. He had suf-
fered from dyspepsia for months, and
was a miserable looking bird, that
seemed bound to die anyway. 1
thought he might as well die testing
my treatment as to perish in the old
fashioned way of being stuffed to
death. put him in clean cage and
for twenty-four hours put no food of
anv kind in the cups. Then put in
= little hemp seed, so that the bird
would neither starve nor get enough
to eat. The hemp seed lasted only a
part of the day, and the next morning
/ put in some canary seed. When the
hemp seed was gone that day the
bird began picking at and playing with
the canary seed. In a day or two he
had learned to crack and eat it. Then
/ gradually lessened the quantity of
hemp seed, and after while supplied
nothing but the canary seed.
Old bird fanciers shook their heads
and said the bird could not live on
canary seed alone, and that | was
boond to lose him. But l perseyered
and the result justified me. The bird
steadily improved in condition and
plumage. i have since repeated the
treatment many times with the same
success, and have adopted canary seed
as the standard and sole food for my
parrots. Several ia ciers and ladies
who have seen my birds tried it, too,
and tell you of it for the benefit of
the public"
''Do parrots have to be kept in a
very warm temperature ?'
'4That is the popular belief, but my
experience has been that parrots can
be made capable of enduring as much
cold as any other bird"
"What is your opinion as to the
merits of the different breedsY'
"There are individual exceptions,
hut think the Mexican double yellow
head is the best all round bird. He is
apt 10 be good tempered and can be
taught to talk we'll, sing we'll and
whistles nicely. The African gray,
with red tail feathers, talks we'll and
whistles, but rarely sings. These birds
die in great numbers, either on the
voyage or soon after their importation,
a result largely due, think, to their
feeding They get soaked bread, bread
and milk, crackers, and coffee and
cracked corn. If they were trained to
eat canary seed before shipment nine
fenths of the consignments would
come through all right and keep in
good condition afterward. African
parrots are less excitable than those
from our tropical regions, and are
more easily domestlcated and become
more attached to their owners.
"The Brazilian Yellow Neck, or
Golden Nape, is also magnificent
specimen OF the talking parrot, but he
is excitable and nervous. His voice is
-f.,ll and human like but he does not